Method of filling a food mold



y 25, 1954 R. A. HAWLEY 3,134,681

METHOD OF FILLING A FOOD MOLD Original Filed May 2, 1960 INVENTOR &fl.Haw/9y WWWM/W United States Patent 3,134,681 METHOD OF FILLING A FOODMOLD Richard A. Hawley, Oakland, Calif., assignor to Meat PackersEquipment Co., Oakland, Calif., a corporation of California Originalapplication May 2, 1960, Ser. No. 26,095, now Patent No. 3,061,345,dated Oct. 30, 1962. Divided and this application Sept. 10, 1962, Ser.No. 222,506 1 Claim. (Cl. 99-174) This invention relates to, and it is amajor object to provide, a novel method of filling a food mold; themethod preferably being practiced with a' mold loader of that typewherein a food product, such as boneless ham, or other meat, is forcedby a plunger through a stuffing born into a mold telescopically engagedon the horn. More particularly the mold loader includes a latch betweenthe horn and mold adapted to releasably connect therebetween upon themold being advanced for only a portion of its length onto said horn.

It is a further important object of this invention to provide a methodof filling a food mold which, in addition to so partially advancing themold onto and releasably connecting the same with the horn, includes thesteps of then forcing the food product from the horn into and fillingthe portion of the mold beyond the horn, thereafter releasing saidconnection, and lastly forcing an additional amount of the food productfrom the horn into the mold to continue the filling thereof untilsubstantially full, while allowing said mold to simultaneously slide offthe horn under the forcing pressure.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a method of fillinga food mold, as above, which greatly facilitates the operation, andmaterially reduces the amount of manual effort required from the timethe mold is first mounted on the horn until such mold is substantiallyfully loaded.

Another object of the invention is to provide a practical and eflicientmethod of filling a food mold.

These objects are accomplished in the manner as will fully appear by aperusal of the following specification and claims.

The drawings illustrate the preferred apparatus for the practice of themethod, and in which drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a mold as mounted on the horn of aconventional loading apparatus, and with the mold latched againstretractive movement.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary longitudial elevation, mainly in section, of thehorn showing the mold mounted thereon and latched; the mold being loadedas far as possible before the latch is released.

FIG. 4 is a similar view, partly in section, of the horn and mold afterthe release of the latch, and showing the plunger fully advanced and themold substantially fully loaded and retracted from the horn.

The present application is a division of application Serial No. 26,095,filed May 2, 1960, now US. Patent No. 3,061,345.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and to the charactersof reference marker thereon, the mold loader-preferred for the practiceof the method-is generally at 1. Such mold loader, which is generallyconventional, includes a press chamber 2 in which the meat is initiallyformed to a predetermined cross section, and from which the meat, orother food product, is forced into a horizontal stuifing horn 3 by aplunger 4 fixed on the free end of a piston rod 5 projecting from afluid pressure cylinder, as usual. The stroke of the plunger is suchthat said plunger can travel from the rear end of the chamber 2, asindicated in FIG. 1, to the front end of horn 3, as shown in FIG. 4.

Patented May 26, 1964 Slidably fitting onto the horn is a meat mold 6,of tubular open-ended form, and which at its outer or base end isnormally closed by a removable insert plate 7. The mold is provided atits top or forward end with a rigid outwardly projecting flange 8thereabout. I

The horn 3 is of square form in cross section, and is disposed with itsopposite corners in vertical and horizontal planes, as clearly shown inFIG. 2. The mold is of the same form, and is arranged to advance ontothe horn to a point such that the outer end of the horn is then locatedsubstantially midway of the length of the mold, as shown in FIG. 2.

A transverse latch plate 9, disposed in a vertical plane, is formed atits lower edge with an inverted right angle V-shaped. notch 10 of a sizeto straddle the adjacent upwardly facing walls of the mold 6.

The plate 9 at one lateral end is swivelly mounted at one side of thehorn 3 on a pin 11 which extends lengthwise of the horn and is securedon an ear 12 which projects laterally from the horn. This ear is locatedon the horn at a point such as to form a stop for the advance of themold onto the horn, and so that the latch plate 9 will be disposeddirectly behind the mold flange 8 when the mold has reached the aboverecited midway position on the horn.

A vertical latch engaging plate 13, having a depend ing notch 14therein, is provided to receive the adjacent end 15 of the swinginglatch plate 9 laterally out from the V-notch 10 when the plate 9 isswung down to a fully lowered position over the mold 6. This plate 13 isrigidly supported from the horn by suitable means, such as bolts 16.These bolts are set back from the notch 14 a sufficient distance toallow the mold flange 8 to be disposed back of the notch, and said boltsare provided with spacers 17 between the horn and the plate 13 so thatthe latter is held laterally out from the horn a sufiicient distance forthe mold flange 8 to clear the plate 13, as shown in FIG. 2, and whenthe mold 6 is being slid to its advanced position on the horn.

In order to control the swinging of the latch plate 9, said plate isprovided with a handle 18 projecting laterally of the loader from theend of the plate opposite the pivot pin 11.

The above described apparatus is employed, in the performance of thepresent method, as follows:

The empy mold 6 to be loaded is first slid onto the horn 3; the latchplate 9 being then swung upand held out of the way until the advance ofthe mold is halted by the stop 12 and the mold flange 8 is beyond saidlatch plate. The latter is then lowered over the mold and in front ofthe flange, as shown in FIG. 3, and so that the end 15 of the latchplate is engaged in the notch 14 of the fixed plate 13, as shown inFIGS. 1 and 2.

The plunger 4, which at that time is at the back of the press chamber 2of the loader, is then advanced to force the meat 19 from said chamberinto the foremost or bottom portion of the mold. This advance of theplunger is continued until the mold is filled from the bottom plate 7 tothe outer end of the horn, at which time the plunger reaches a pointadjacent the zone of the latch plate 9, as shown in FIG. 3. At the sametime, the portion of the horn beyond the plunger is still filled withmeat, while the portion of the mold which overlaps or telescopes thehorn remains empty.

The plunger advance is then temporarily halted in order to relieve thepressure on the mold and enable the operator to swing the latch plate 9up and clear of the mold flange 8, as indicated in dotted lines in FIG.2.

The advance of the plunger is thereafter continued so that the remainingmeat is forced from the horn and into the mold; the lattersimultaneously sliding or backing freely ofi the horn at the same speedas the advance of the plunger. The mold thus becomes practicallycompletely filled or loaded by the time the horn is emptied, as shown inFIG. 4.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that there hasbeen described a method which fulfills the objects of the invention, asset forth herein.

While this specification sets forth the present and preferred steps ofthe method, still in practice such deviations therefrom may be resortedto as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, asdefined by the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, the following is claimed as new anduseful, and upon WhichLettcrs Patent are desired:

A method of filling an elongated tubular, horn-fitting food mold, fromthe stufiing horn of a food-mold loader, comprising the steps ofslidably advancing the mold part Way only onto the horn, releasablysecuring the mold in such advanced position and against slidingretraction from the horn, then forcing food from the horn into the moldto substantially fill the portion of the latter beyond said horn,thereafter releasing the mold, and finally forcing additional food fromthe horn into the mold to substantially complete the filling thereof;the mold being slidably advanced onto the horn for a distanceapproximately one-half the length of the mold, and the step of forcingsuch additional food from the horn into the mold imparts, under the foodpressure, sliding retraction to said mold for substantially acorresponding distance.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,917,888 Hawley Dec. 22, 1959 2,922,186 Sartore Jan. 26, 1960

